Navigation

Monthly Archives: November 2008

Post navigation

The last few weeks have been a little frazzled as I moved to another part of town. Getting to a very food-oriented area close to both farmers’ market and food co-op, ironically, has limited my cooking and blog posting. The jumble of cardboard boxes and a trip to see family promises another few days of preoccupation. I just had to surface, though, for Thanksgiving.

As I head into a few glorious days of full-on food prep, let me leave you some ideas…. Just in case you’ve had your own distractions, or if you generally procrastinated when it came to Thanksgiving menu planning. Not that anyone (least of all moi) would ever do that! Continue reading →

Checking out the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s Mama Ph.D. blog for a friend who’s about to become one, I came across this post. It fascinated me on a number of levels. This mini essay not only depicts the reality of standard nutrition education, but demonstrates the complexity of parenthood and good writing technique to boot. I love how the writer knows 10 times more than the presenters and has better things to do with her time, but in the end she must go because her daughter can’t let her miss the “party at school.” And the “hand-drawn poster,” “tiny plates,” and “little plastic glass of water” emphasize the amateur and futile nature of it all.

Those three aspects of the writing aren’t even what the post is about. The writer wants community, she says, and what better way to develop that than combining pedagogical technique and food? She also makes this point elegantly through the piece. As a foodie and writer, I approve of the commentary and the technique.

You have to give those nursing students props for serving quinoa, though. And why couldn’t the mom just stick out a hand and introduce herself to someone? Well, as I have demonstrated many times, no blog post is perfect.

Obama’s in. Great. Awesome. All our shoe leather, prayers, conversations, and campaign contributions did their thing. We know that we’ll have some health care reform, new respect from abroad, some economic repair, the possibility of ending our endless wars, and the comfort of knowing that the guy in the White House actually believes climate change was caused by human beings. But one major detail of the incoming administration remains undecided–who will do the cooking.

After Clinton brought the healthy and contemporary cooking of Walter Scheib (who’s got a book about his adventures and 12-year-old Chelsea’s favorite meals) and Dubya brought in female and Phillipines-born Cristeta Comerford, where can the Obamas go? How might they surprise and delight us with an executive chef selection?

Fox’s Obama Chic series had some thoughts on it (at least Fox doesn’t have the Obamas doing anything as sinister as “scheming” about the chef as said they were with decor) and the Huffington Post has made its guesses.

These aren’t the only news sources speculating, and I’m far from the only blogger giving this careful consideration. Just look at this blog. But I figured I’d post what I’d found so far for my readers.

While speculations fly, we have one clue from an insider: As Sheib told the Balto Sun, “I doubt there is going be a movement to replace the first minority chef with an old white guy.”

You know that thing about how variety is the spice of life? It’s kind of true, but do you know what I think is really the spice of life? Spice is the spice of life. And herbs, too. Just take a look in my spice cabinet and you’ll know what I’m talking about. You’ll be like “Damn, that girl has a lot of spice(s).” And you’ll be right. Many of them you might not recognize. That’s okay – it takes me a minute, too.

Well, recently I added a few more to my collection of esoteric seasonings. I thought I’d share with you these new additions to the family, and how they’ve livened up my life. Throughout, you’ll find links to the Epicentre Encyclopedia of Spices, which sounds like it knows what it’s talking about. Continue reading →